Look what I found, Freddy, speaking of Hitler and Christianity. It is your assumption, not mine, that Hitler's government was incompatible with Christianity. Also, I think your argument that if you unwound Hakeem's argument, I would just find some other collection of objections, is weak at best.
This is all from the following source, incidentally:
nizkor.org
Although Hitler has done considerable reading in a variety of fields of study, he does not in any way attribute his
infallibility or omniscience to any intellectual endeavor on his part. On the contrary, he frowns on such sources when
it comes to guiding the destiny of nations. His opinion of the intellect is, in fact, extremely low, for in various places he
makes such statements as the following:
"Of secondary importance is the training of mental abilities."
"Over-educated people, stuffed with knowledge and intellect, but bare of any sound instincts."
"These impudent rascals (intellectuals) who always know everything better than anybody else..."
"The intellect has grown autocratic, and has become a disease of life."
Hitler's guide is something different entirely. It seems certain that Hitler believes that he has been sent Germany by
Providence and that he has a particular mission to perform. He is probably not clear on the scope of this mission
beyond the fact that he has been chosen to redeem the German people and reshape Europe. Just how this is to be
accomplished is also rather vague in his mind, but this does not concern him greatly because an "inner voice"
communicates to him the steps [Page 10] he is to take. This is the guide which leads him on his course with the
precision and security of a sleep-walker.
"I carry out the commands that Providence has laid upon me." (490)
"No power on earth can shake the German Reich now, Divine Providence has willed it that I carry
through the fulfillment of the Germanic task." (413)
"But if the voice speaks, then I know the time has come to act." (714)
It is this firm conviction that he has a mission and is under the guidance and protection of Providence which is
responsible in large part for the contagious effect he has had on the German people.
Many people believe that this feeling of Destiny and mission have come to Hitler through his successes. This is
probably false. Later in our study (Part V) we will try to show that Hitler has had this feeling for a great many years
although it may not have become a conscious conviction until much later. In auy case it was forcing its way into
consciousness during the war and has played a dominant role in his actions ever since. Mend (one of his comrades),
for example, reports:
"An eine eigenartige Propheseiung errinere ich mich noch in diesem Zusammenhag: Kurs vor
Weihnachten (1915) auesserte er sich, dass wir noch vieles von ihm hoeren werden. Wir sollen nur
abwarten, bis seine Zeit gekommen ist." (208)
Then, too, Hitler has reported several incidents during the war which proved to him that he was under Devine
protection. The [Page 11] most startling of these is the following:
"I was eating my dinner in a trench with several comrades. Suddenly a voice seemed to be saying to
me, 'Get up and go over there.' It was so clear and insistent that I obeyed automatically, as if it had
been a military order. I rose at once to my feet and walked twenty yards along the trench carrying my
dinner in its tin can with me. Then I sat down to go on eating, my mind being once more at rest. Hardly
had I done so when a flash and deafening report came from the part of the trench I had just left. A stray
shell had burst over the group in which I had been sitting, and every member of it was killed." (Price,
241)
Then, also, there was the vision he had while in hospital at Pasewalk suffering from blindness allegedly caused by
gas:
"Als ich im Bett lag kam mir der Gedanke, dass ich Deutschland befreien wuerde, dass ich es gross
machen wuerde, und ich habe sofort gewusst, dass das verwirklicht werden wuerde." (429)
These experiences must later have fit in beautifully with the views of the Munich astrologers and it is possible that
underneath Hitler felt that if there was any truth in their predictions they probably referred to him. But in those days
he did not mention any connection between them or dwell on the Divine guidance he believed he possessed. Perhaps
he felt that such claims at the beginning of the movement might hinder rather than help it. However, as von Wiegand
has pointed out, he was not averse to making use of the forecasts to advance his own ends. At that time he was
content with the role of a "drummer" who was heralding the coming of the real savior. Even then, however, the role
of drummer was not as innocent or as insignificant in Hitler's mind as might be supposed. This was brought [Page 12]
out in his testimony during the trial following the unsuccessful Beerhall Putsch of 1923. At that time he said:
"Nehmem Sie die Ueberzeugung hin, dass ich die Erringung eines Ministerpostens nicht als
erstrebenswert ansehe. Ich halte es eine grossen Mannes nicht fuer wuerdigeseinen Namen der
Geschichte nur dadurch ueberliefern zu wollen, dasser Minister wird. Was mir vor Augen stand, das
war vom ersten Tage tausendmal mehr: ich wollte der Zerbrecher der Marxismus werden. Ich werde
die Ausfgabe loesen, und wenn ich sie loese, dann waere der Titel eines Ministers fuer mich eine
Laecherlichkeit. Als ihh zum ersten Mal vor Richard Wagners Grab stand, da quoll mir des Herz ueber
vor Stolz, dass hier ein Mann ruht, der es sich verbeten hat, hinaufzuschreiben: Hier ruht Geheimrat
Musikdirektor Excellenz Baron Richard von Wagner. Ich war stolz darauf, dass dieser Mann und so
viele Maenner der deutschen Geschichte sich damit begnuegten, ihren Namen der Nachwelt zu
ueberliefern, nicht ihren Titel. Nicht aus Bescheidenheit wollte ich 'Trommler' sein. Das ist des
Hoechste, das andere ist eine Kleinigkett."
After his stay in Landsberg Hitler no longer referred to himself as the "drummer." Occasionally, he would describe
himself in the words of St. Matthew, "as a voice crying in the wilderness", or as St. John the Baptist whose duty was
to hew a path for him who was to come and lead the nation to power and glory. More frequently, however, he
referred to himself as "the Fuehrer", a name chosen by Hess during their imprisonment. (901)
As time went on, it became clearer that he. was thinking of himself as the Messiah and that it was he who was
destined to lead Germany to glory. His references to the Bible became more frequent and the movement began to
take on a religious [page 13] atmosphere. Comparisons between Christ and himself became more numerous and
found their way into his conversation and speeches. For example, he would say:
"When I came to Berlin a few weeks ago and looked at the traffic in the Kurfuerstendamm, the luxury,
the perversion, the iniquity, the wanton display, and the Jewish materialism disgusted me so thoroughly,
that I was almost beside myself. I nearly imagined myself to be Jesus Christ when He came to His
Father's temple and found it taken by the money-changers. I can well imagine how He felt when He
seized a whip and scourged them out." (905)
During his speech, according to Hanfstangl, he swung his whip around violently as though to drive out the Jews and
the forces of darkness, the enemies of Germany and German honor. Dietrich Eckart, who discovered Hitler as a
possible leader and had witnessed this performance, said later, "When a man gets to the point of identifying himself
with Jesus Christ, then he is ripe for an insane asylum." The identification in all this was not with Jesus Christ, the
Crucified, but with Jesus Christ, the furious, lashing the crowds.
As a matter of fact, Hitler has very little admiration for Christ, the Crucified. Although he was brought up a Catholic,
and received Communion, during the war, he severed his connection with the Church directly afterwards. This kind
of Christ he considers soft and weak and unsuitable as a German Messiah.
The latter must be hard and brutal if he is to save Germany and lead it to its destiny.
"My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. It points me to the man who
once in loneliness, [Page 14] surrounded by only a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they
were and summoned me to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but
as a fighter. In boundless love, as a Christian and as a man, I read through the passage which tells us
how the Lord rose at last in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of
vipers and adders. How terrific was the fight for the world against the Jewish poison." (M.N.O. 26)
And to Rauschning he once referred to "the Jewish Christ-creed with its effeminate, pity-ethics".
It is not clear from the evidence whether the new State religion was part of Hitler's plan or whether developments
were such that it became feasible. It is true that Rosenberg had long advocated such a move, but there is no
evidence that Hitler was inclined to take such a drastic step until after he had come to power. It is possible that he
felt he needed the power before he could initiate such a change, or it may be that his series of successes were so
startling that the people spontaneously adopted a religious attitude towards him which made the move more or less
obvious. In any case, he has accepted this God-like role without any hesitation or embarrassment.
White tells us that now when he is addressed with the salutation, "Heil Hitler, our Savior", he bows slightly at the
compliment in the phrase - and believes it. (664) As time goes on, it becomes more and more certain that Hitler
believes that he is really the "Chosen One" and that in his thinking he conceives of himself as a second Christ who has
been sent to institute in the world a new system of values based on brutality and violence. He has fallen in love with
[Page 15] the image of himself in this role and has surrounded himself with his own portraits. |
